Sherry Turkle in Evocative Objects:Things We Like talks of 'objects as companions to our emotional lives' and 'objects that connect us to ideas and people'. Which reminds me how interesting it was to do Janet Luhr's exercise (see 14 Nov). Have you tried that? How useful did you find it? I wonder if it would help with decisions about which books to keep?
I find there is nothing simple about getting rid of books.....